Lilywhite Woman

Category: Men’s Team

  • Spurs Men Need to Find Their Beth England

    Spurs Men Need to Find Their Beth England

    Bethany England joined Tottenham Hotspur Women from Chelsea on 3rd January, 2023 for a then tranfer record fee of £250,000. At that point, her new club were perilously close to the drop. She scored on debut against Aston Villa 11 days later, but couldn’t stop the rot, as the team went on to suffer a fifth successive defeat. 

    Things did eventually turn a corner. England scored 12 goals in 12 appearances, saving her new side from relegation. That includes the goal against Leicester City that mathematically confirmed safety. England’s off-field presence was just as important as her goals on the pitch. 

    After a derby day disaster, the men are in a similar position to where the women were when England joined. They are looking over the precipice. Just four points separate them from the relegation zone. Who is going to be the England-esque hero for new boss Igor Tudor? It’s hard to see. 

    When I interviewed England for The Daily Star, she acknowledged her status in the Women’s side. “I’m the captain, and I’m, I guess, the face of it, at the forefront of it,” she said. As for the men? No Kane. No Son.  Spurs have no superstar.

    People will likely point to World Cup-winning skipper Christian Romero. That might be right, when he is actually on the pitch. Missing seven league games due to suspension is letting everyone down. There did not seem to be evidence of him at the team dinner Tudor put together last week either.

    Spurs Men Have no Superstar

    The manager was new yesterday. The crowd was up, ready to back him and the team. None of it made a difference. This injury ravaged-side have no x-factor. Maybe it would have been Maddison. Or Kuluveski. It might yet be Xavi Simons, who is slowly growing into the Premier League. But at the moment there is nothing.

    I don’t think a second-half collapse against Arsenal, as painful as is it was, will be what decides whether or not Spurs go down. Even though everyone was desperate to disrupt the Gunner’s title charge, the game was something of a free hit. Any point would have been a bonus, mathematically and psychologically. However, there are no more of those. And it is hard to see who is going to step up and drag Tottenham to safety.

    There is no Bethany England in that group. And it shows.

  • Newcastle Fallout Chat, with Chris Cowlin

    Newcastle Fallout Chat, with Chris Cowlin


    Following Tottenham Hotspurs disastrous defeat to Newcastle United in the Premier League , I had the pleasure of a group therapy session with Chris Cowlin Ricky Norwood and Craig Dearman. 

    As you might imagine, we were all pretty flabbergasted at what we had seen. Unsurprisingly, most of the conversation was focussed on the future of Thomas Frank. I was pretty certain he wouldn’t make it 12 hours, and so it has proven. Let’s not pretend that the replacement will be anyone other than Mauricio Pochettino. 

    Thanks to the viewers who left nice comments in the chat! You can watch it below or listen wherever you get your podcast. Enjoy the episode, if you can:

  • Talking Frankly [Updated]

    Talking Frankly [Updated]

    Empty seats at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

    [Updated 24 January]

    It’s been another… week at Tottenham Hotspur, ending with a pretty abysmal 2-2 against Burnley at Turf Moor. It was Christian Romero to the rescue once again, but is that enough to save Thomas Frank’s job for another round of fixtures? 

    Probably.

    Should it? 

     No.

    The 2-0 Champions League win in the week, showed a decent level of performance. Especially in the first half. However, not beating Burnley at home is unacceptable. It reiterates many of the points below.

    Original piece:

    I really wanted Thomas Frank to be the Spurs manager and was keen to see him appointed not just this summer, but a couple of years previously when Ange Postecoglou got the job. I liked him at Brentford and always thought he came over pretty well in the media. 

    It’s quite clear now that he cannot continue in the role.

    The 1-2 defeat against West Ham is far below what is acceptable. The actual performance was even worse. This all would have been bad enough on it’s own. In the broader context of the season, it is the final straw. There are rows of empty seats every game and the players seem to be clueless.

    Per the Independent‘s Miguel Delaney, discussions are ongoing. But the fans have gone. The players have gone. It’s over.

    Thomas Frank Early Warning Signs

    Let’s start at the beginning, with the Super Cup vs PSG. Tottenham got 2-0 up in that game and were playing very well, before being pegged back and losing on penalties. We were pegged back because Frank allowed the team to get deeper and deeper, encouraging evermore pressure. It was never going to work, and PSG inevitably equalised before winning on penalties. 

    I was pretty gutted after that. It was possibly a once in a lifetime chance to win that bit of silverware. Doing so would have felt very special indeed. However, I accepted that we’d been a bit unlucky against a top side. 

    The alarm bells probably should have been ringing even after that first game, but a few good subsequent results (Burnley, Man City etc…) allowed us to move on. Since then, there have been too many diablical results and performances. Wolves (H), Bodo Glimt (A), Chelsea (H), Arsenal (A), Fulham (H), Nottingham Forest (A)… 

    Game Over

    West Ham are poor and Thomas Frank’s Tottenham were on top for large parts of this game. They ended up with 62% of possession, having 21 shots, six of which were on target. The reality, though, was that Alphonse Areola was hardly having to exert himself to keep the Hammers in the game. There seemed to be almost no real attacking plan from Spurs. At one moment, Spurs had the ball in possession and were trying to play out from the back as Frank pointed needlessly towards their opponent’s goal.

    We all know about the infamous xG numbers. The data from Twelve Football’s Earpiece tools highlights just how badly Spurs have struggled going forward. They have been below the average in the league for almost the entire season.

    The defence has kept the show on the road for most of this campaign. For a long time, it was better than under Postecoglou. (It could hardly have been worse.) There were clean sheets and everything! Now, as this data from Twelve Football’s Earpiece tool makes clear, that is trending in the wrong direction too.

    As is often the case, there are moments of clarity in football. Mine came early in the game today. West Ham had just gone 0-1 up and Ben Davies was receiving extensive treatment before being stretchered off. You might think a manager would take the opportunity to gather his players and sort things out. Frank was just standing in his technical area while the players pottered around the centre circle.

    I don’t know what the answer is. But, regrettably, I know it isn’t Thomas Frank.